PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia 76ers were cruising at home Wednesday night. They led the Memphis Grizzlies by as many as 15 and had a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter. Without Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to lead them, the Sixers ended up falling apart.
The Grizzlies outscored the Sixers 34-16 in the fourth and stole a 115-109 victory against the Sixers on the road. Memphis grabbed 19 rebounds in the fourth, including five offensive ones, had 11 second-chance points, shot 41.7 percent from the floor and held the Sixers to 7-of-28 shooting in the final period.
Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr. had 11 points in the final frame and Jake LaRavia had seven rebounds to help Memphis close out the game. The Sixers were obviously shorthanded in this one, but the Grizzlies were missing star Ja Morant as well as Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart, Brandon Clarke, Ziaire Williams and others. Philadelphia missed an opportunity.
After the dust settled, the Sixers explained what happened over time:
“I mean, look, I think the fourth quarter turned into a pretty physical game,” coach Nick Nurse said. “We didn’t seem able to play despite some contact. I thought we had some good opportunities in front of the rim. They obviously shot a lot of free throws in the fourth quarter as well. They obviously bounced back when we made them miss.
The Grizzlies shot 11 of 11 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, as they were the much more powerful team and played with much more energy. When a team plays like Memphis did in the fourth, good things happen.
“It felt like Jackson was really killing us, wasn’t it?” Added the nurse. “But he was 10 for 25. We made him miss a lot, but we didn’t hold the team to one shot, right? So just around the rim and rebounding in the fourth quarter was a problem.
Through three quarters, the Sixers shot 12 of 28 from deep and 43.2 percent overall. The ball was moving and they were able to find a rhythm. This was obviously not the case in the fourth quarter.
“We got a little dry everywhere,” Nurse added. “I think we were 12 for 24 at one point from 3, then we go to 1 for our next 12. So this is it.
The Grizzlies had plenty of putback opportunities as LaRavia and Jackson really hurt the Sixers down the stretch. It felt like Memphis wanted the game more than them.
“Too many offensive rebounds from them,” added Tobias Harris. “The physicality, the fouls, sent them to the free throw line too many times and, offensively, they couldn’t really come back in the fall for us. That was the name of the game in eighth grade.
As mentioned, the Grizzlies frequented the line often while the Sixers only got there twice. When things weren’t going well offensively, Philadelphia could have forced things a little more.
“Man, I’d probably say we didn’t make it to the finish line,” added Cam Payne, who got the start in this one. “Jaren Jackson came to the finish line all the way down the stretch. We couldn’t put the ball in the basket that whole stretch, I don’t think so either. They just killed us in the fourth quarter. We just kept putting them in play, we have to take care of them.
If the Sixers want to get where they want to go, they will have to continue to grow and understand that they have to play a full 48 minutes if they want to win games. Their margin for error without Embiid and Maxey at the moment is razor thin and they need to be better at closing out games.
“I’m just going to say this,” Kelly Oubre Jr. began. “We can learn a lot from tonight because we all knew Memphis was missing a lot of guys and so did we. It was a true testament to how work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. I just think that was the whole point of tonight’s game. They held on for 48 minutes and I think we kind of lost the third period and no excuses. Whatever happened, they continued to fight. I kept hitting, and hitting, and hitting, and eventually it worked in their favor.
